Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 123, No. 209 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
August 30, 2014
SATURDAY
Commissioners tour jail amid $15.1M makeover BY JEFF TUCKER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Segregating inmates from each other for their own protection and keeping the men and women separated is like a daily chess game, said Chaves County Adult Detention Center Administrator Clay Corn. Increasing the jail’s maximum capacity from 267 inmates to 400, coupled with a new dor m for females, will give jail officials more options, Corn said. The five Chaves County commissioners toured the jail Friday morning amid a $15.1 million renovation project expected to be completed in August 2015. Project superintendent Raul Perea of Bradbury Stamm Construction of
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Albuquerque said the challenge is keeping the jail operational during the extensive interior and exterior renovations. “This is a running facility, 24/7,” Perea told the county commissioners and a handful of other county leaders who, Friday morning, officially toured the jail at 3701 S. Atkinson Ave. for the first time since construction began in earnest in January. “Everybody has a role in the success of this project,” Perea said. Perea said keeping the jail’s master control area running during interior reconstruction will likely be the toughest part of the project. Perea said it’s taken eight months of planning to prepare for the interior reconstruction that will
take 2½ months to complete. The reconstruction will double or triple the size of the master control area, Perea said. Corn said the jail’s current population is about 280 inmates, about 50 of which are female. He said a new 40-bed pod for women, in addition to the current women’s pod, will double the jail’s capacity to house women and give him more options. “Sometimes, it’s a chess match,” Corn said, “and we have to make moves every day to accommodate the female population.” Asked where he houses female inmates when in a pinch, Corn said “any place but the male units.” Cor n said things have See JAIL, Page A3
Jeff Tucker Photo
The Chaves County commissioners tour the Chaves County Detention Center Friday morning. The $15 million renovation project will increase the jail's maximum capacity from 267 inmates to 400. The project is expected to be completed by August 2015.
Ice water generates more cold, hard cash for ALS
Submitted Photo
Comfort Keepers of Roswell challenged The Roswell Chamber of Commerce to do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge on Thursday. The Chamber challenged the Roswell Police Department to do the challenge alongside them and the Roswell Fire Department was more than happy to douse the Roswell Police officers, along with the Roswell Chamber of Commerce staff and board of directors. “We would like to thank everybody that participated and came out to show your support,” said Candace Lewis, Chamber office manager.
Bernalillo County changes immigration-check policy
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — New Mexico’s most populous county no longer will keep inmates in jail while their immigration status is being checked if there’s no order to keep them in custody for other reasons once they’ve posted bail. Bernalillo County officials said the new policy means the county won’t keep inmates confined at the Metropolitan Detention Center merely on the basis of a request from immigration authorities. County Attorney Randy Autio said the policy change is a result of court rulings around the country, the Albuquerque Journal
reported. “We can’t violate somebody’s rights for the convenience of another agency,” Autio said. Autio said the county will still notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement if there’s been a release order. “If this person is truly a danger to the community, we want ICE to take action,” he said. County Commissioner Wayne Johnson expressed concern about the policy change. The county’s old practice was in place for years without problems, he said. Federal immigration authorities are overloaded,
“and we’re not helping that situation potentially,” Johnson said. “This just seemed like a dangerous time to be changing that policy.” Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins said the change was correct. “Courts around the county have been ruling that these voluntary ICE holds are unconstitutional,” she said. The New Mexico Association of Counties has urged local jails to consider their release policies in light of the court decisions, Autio said. Dona Ana County earlier this summer made a policy change similar to what Bernalillo County is doing.
Smyth
Georgene Smyth has retired after 19 years as a newspaper carrier at the Roswell Daily Record. Smyth is a friendly and caring person with many wonderful stories to tell. “I was the circulation manager for 10 years. Then I took over a route when a carrier had a heart attack while doing the route,” she said. “So I helped her with it, and took it over when it came open. I did the route for nine years
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TODAY’S FORECAST
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — The state’s largest electric utility is underestimating the costs that will be passed on to customers under a proposal to shut down part of an aging coalfired power plant in northwester n New Mexico, according to a regulatory filing made Friday by advocates of renewable energy. The Santa Fe-based group New Energy Economy is accusing PNM of withholding from the Public Regulation Commission key infor mation about the plan’s price tag. The group contends PNM didn’t include more than a half-billion dollars of ongoing capital expenditures in the calculations and failed to weigh the costs of environmental regulations and the disposal of coal ash waste generated by the power plant.
“It’s about shifting these risks, whether it’s the environmental risks or decommissioning costs, from the shareholders to the ratepayers,” said Mariel Nanasi, executive director of New Energy Economy. “That’s really what this is all about. That’s why this is not just a climate issue. It’s an economic issue.” New Energy Economy argues PNM’s plan to replace power lost by the shutdown relies too heavily on coal and natural gas, and not enough on alternative energies. PNM says it stands behind the science it used to craft its plan, which is at the center of what many consider as a watershed public-utility case that will set the stage for energy policy in New Mexico for See COSTS, Page A3
Heading for the hills
Bill Moffitt Photo
Randy (in hat) and Brenda Jaquess (back to camera) enjoy lunch at McDonald's, 1804 S. Main St., Friday, before heading to Ruidoso with their great-grandchildren. Shown are, from left, Colvin, 4, Kayson, 8, and Hailee, 6, all of Roswell. AAA predicts that 34.7 million travelers will journey at least 50 miles from home this upcoming Labor Day weekend.
Smyth retires after 19 years BY MARY MORGAN RECORD STUDENT INTERN
Group challenges coal power plant proposal costs
when I had a nasty fall that left me in home health and physical therapy for two months. “But I had a lot of substitutes I could trust. People that would do it right,” she said. Smyth is a woman with a heart of gold spending her time to help others. “I spend a lot of my time now volunteering at my church,” she said. Record Staff Intern Mary Morgan may be contacted at 622-7710, ext. 305, or at Obituaries@rdrnews.com. Morgan is the newspaper’s obituary clerk and a general assignment reporter.
THERE ARE NO LOCAL OBITUARIES FOR TODAY. TODAY’S OBITUARIES
Albuquerque mayor vetoes marijuana ballot measure
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — The mayor of New Mexico’s largest city vetoed a measure on Friday that would have allowed voters to decide whether to decriminalize marijuana possession in much the same way that councilors in the state’s capital did just two days earlier. In a video message posted on YouTube, AlbuCLASSIFIEDS ..........B6 COMICS .................B5 ENTERTAINMENT .....A8 FINANCIAL ..............B3
querque Mayor Richard Berry said he was vetoing the effort that also included a tax increase and other proposals because marijuana is illegal and decriminalizing it would pose conflicts with state and federal laws. Berry said he also didn’t support the proposed tax hike. See MARIJUANA, Page A3
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